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Waiting in the Antelife

I’ve decided I’ll belong to Generation X.
I like the sound of that.
It’s variable.

My parents will be first-time married.
They’ll stay that way.
They’ll both be teachers—
one math, one English—
so I can learn how
to survive school.

I’ll be an only child for awhile, but then
I’ll have a sister when I’m old
enough not to be jealous.
Just one, though.
And no brothers!

”Clever more than smart,” they’ll say,
and that way I’ll have more fun
exploring the what without the weight.

Mid-sized college minus
the midnight clubbing
(well, maybe down in Mazatlán)
washed down with two
degrees and an almost-third one
that I’ll always mean to finish.

Date twice. Marry once.
Learn my lesson in my thirties
just in time to have
two children for the replacement race.

When I’m fifty, I’ll catch my face
in the glass of the patio’s French doors.
Faded but firm, I’ll think.
Way to work the plan.

—
Brian C. Billings is a professor of English and drama at Texas A&M University-Texarkana, where he also serves as the editor-in-chief for Aquila Review. His poems have appeared in Abandoned Mine, Ancient Paths, Argestes, The Bluebird Word, Confrontation, Evening Street Review, and The Woven Tale Press.

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